Socialize

Kailahun elections: SLPP calls high court ruling a travesty

Sierra Leone People’s Party has described the Freetown High Court against their parliamentary candidates in constituencies 05 and 15 in Kailahun and Kenema respectively as “an excellent example of a manipulated judicial outcome and a broad daylight travesty of justice”.

SHELL-SHOCKED … SLPP Secretary General, Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie

The party’s Secretary General, Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie, stated in a press statement issued yesterday that they were surprised with the ruling which, according to him, has effectively granted the APC two additional seats in SLPP’s traditional strongholds.

“The ruling by the High Court is an excellent example of a manipulated judicial outcome and a broad daylight travesty of justice,” reiterated the SLPP scribe. “We have appealed against the decisions and will be coming out with our party’s future political action very soon.”

On 25 November, Justice Showers of the High Court ruled that all the votes cast in favour of the SLPP candidates in the 2012 parliamentary election in constituencies 05 and 15 in Kailahun and Kenema – Messrs Ansu Lansana and Capt. (Rtd.) Afiju Kanja – be annulled by the National Electoral Commission (NEC). She also ruled that the SLPP candidates had violated a court order restraining them from putting themselves as candidates.

Describing the ruling as “a manipulation of the judiciary for political reason, ” Mr. Tejan-Sie assured all [party supporters] that they would mount a robust legal appeal “to ensure that the people’s mandate is not stolen like it has always been the modus operandi of the ruling All People’s Congress.

“We also wish to call on civil society, the press, the Bar Association and the international community to play their part now and prevent the APC from returning this country to the instability and turmoil of yester years,” Mr. Tejan-Sie implored.